PORTLAND, Maine — Former Vice President Kamala Harris threw her support behind Maine Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson on Monday, offering her endorsement just 48 hours after the state’s Democratic Party held an emergency nominating process to select him as a replacement candidate in a race considered pivotal for Senate control.
Jackson received the Democratic nomination on Saturday to challenge long-serving Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Party delegates gathered at a special nominating convention after Graham Platner — who had won the June primary — stepped aside following sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.
The rushed effort to find a new candidate in such a high-profile contest drew comparisons to Harris’s own sudden rise to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket. Harris became the party’s presidential nominee in August 2024 after President Joe Biden abruptly dropped out of his reelection bid following a widely criticized debate performance against then-former President Donald Trump. Trump ultimately defeated Harris, carrying every presidential battleground state.
In a fundraising email sent to supporters Monday, Harris drew a direct parallel between her own experience and Jackson’s situation, urging Democrats to rally behind him.
“I know what it is like to step up to the plate with a short runway to Election Day. Troy will have just 101 days between his nomination for Senate and when voters in Maine will cast their ballots,” Harris wrote in the email.
For Democrats, flipping the Maine seat is considered essential to any path back to a Senate majority. The party would also need to capture three additional Republican-held seats while holding onto every seat they currently occupy.
Jackson, a fifth-generation logger and former president of the Maine Senate, had originally entered this year’s primary as a candidate for governor. He lost that contest but quickly emerged as the party’s top choice to step in for Platner, with whom he had previously campaigned before Platner’s candidacy collapsed.
Representatives for Jackson’s campaign and the Maine Democratic Party had not responded to requests for comment as of Monday. It remained unclear whether Jackson’s team sought Harris’s endorsement or whether she offered it on her own initiative.
Earlier Monday, Jackson’s campaign acknowledged a significant fundraising gap compared to Collins, who has collected more than $16 million. The campaign said Jackson has raised $2 million since receiving the nomination.
Jackson “is harnessing historic energy across the state to deliver the change Mainers have been demanding over Collins’ three-decade career in Washington,” the campaign said in a statement.
Maine Republicans were quick to ridicule the Harris endorsement, pointing out that neither Harris nor Jackson secured their nominations through a traditional primary victory.
“She knows exactly what he’s going through,” said Blake Kernen, a spokesperson for Collins.
